When it comes to recaps, the standard operating procedure (at least for me) is to watch an episode and then write about it. Even if I have access to multiple episodes, I force myself to wait until the writing is in the can before I marathon through. Knowing what happens next affects my reactions when recapping. Plus, I would never forgive myself if I accidentally spoiled something from a future storyline with a glib remark.
Then along came “Daredevil” on Netflix, in all it”s 13-episode glory. Suddenly, it”s as if the whole world has screeners! But everyone is watching on their own schedule. Without the structure of a time slot, it makes spoiler territory even more dangerous than usual. Watch too slowly and you missed the conversation. Binge-marathon in one sitting and risk ostracizing yourself as a spoiler pariah. So what”s a recapper to do? Stream-of-consciousness, obviously!
Over the next couple of weeks, I”ll be giving my thoughts on Marvel”s “Daredevil” in all their unfiltered glory. Welcome to my brain. Tis a silly place.
Episode One – “Into the Ring”
#1. Who transports toxic chemical gel in the back of a flat bed truck? Do you want blind superheroes? Because this is how you get blind superheroes.
#2. You think the priest ever gets tired of hearing lapsed Catholics say, “It”s been too long since my last confession,”?
#3. Matt Murdock has no respect for this priest”s valuable time. This isn”t a first date, get to the point!
#4. Do you really need to ask permission to stop human trafficking?
#5. Fun fact: You have to startle traumatized girls like cattle to get them herded in the right direction to freedom.
#6. Awww, no water coffin? Now how am I supposed to wonder how Matt doesn”t drown every night?
#7. Foggy bribing an old lady with cigars via her cop son instantly makes him my favorite.
#8. Was Hell”s Kitchen in the line of fire for “The Incident”? I thought the Avengers contained the Chitauri to a few Midtown blocks surrounding Stark Tower. I”m bad at judging distances, though.
#9. Strange to see “True Blood”s Jessica freaking out over a bloody corpse unless it”s about wasted food.
#10. Matt Murdock needs to meet the guy from “Lie To Me.” They would be unstoppable.
#11. Buy Windows Tablets. The device of choice for when you really, truly need to blackmail someone.
#12. Karen Page, don”t let this guy choke you out. DO something…that”ll work!
#13. Shame it”s still considered a novelty to watch a woman successfully fend off her assailant.
#14. Two years since “The Incident” places this show happening concurrently with “The Winter Soldier.” Before or after fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. though?
#15. Don”t act surprised that grants to rebuild the city were funneled to corrupt companies. It”d be more surprising if they WEREN”T.
#16. Suddenly it makes sense why Karen was suspicious of her Good Samaritan lawyers.
#17. Thank you “Daredevil” for explaining how Murdock has a huge apartment with no clients.
#18. Xining Airways, eh? Throwaway ad placement or plot point for later?
#19. Just a thought. Maybe don”t stand in front of giant windows if you”ve got people trying to murder you with increasingly bold strategies.
#20. Karen adjusted quickly to Matt”s blindness. Check off the “Requisite Nudity” box.
#21. Old white dude can”t believe a masked hero would be down on the docks. Man, not all superheroes can stop alien invasions and bring down remnants of the Third Reich. Somebody”s gotta be “Man on the Street.”
#22. Dude in the suit has a quiet menace and a confident air, the kind of man you should fear. Clearly the Russians have no sense of self-preservation.
#23. Matt Murdock is throwing off some serious Iron Fist vibes in this fight.
#24. Do you know how dirty kid hands are, Mr. Murdock? Don”t let your kid just shove his fingers in your gaping face wound!
#25. Kingpin is an asshole, but not 100% a dick. No reason to kill a girl when he doesn”t have to.
#26. Interested to find out how Karen can afford to work for free.
#27. I see the trope that old Chinese women make TERRIFYING crime lords is alive and well.
Episode Two – “Cut Man”
#28. Pretty sure “Daredevil” was single-handedly keeping the fake blood industry alive during filming. And we”re only on the second episode.
#29. You can”t just take a bleeding vigilante out of a dumpster like a stray cat!
#30. Rosario Dawson takes her “Do No Harm” oath very seriously.
#31. Can someone confirm or deny if you can use a touch screen with latex gloves on?
#32. Daredevil”s real superpower is having crisp flashbacks every time he blacks out.
#33. Rule #52 of Questionable Parenting: Don”t argue with your kid about doing his homework while he”s got a suture in your face and liquor on his breath.
#34. Uh-oh, I whisper as I begin to ship it. Foggy/Karen OTP.
#35. Secret secrets are no fun. Secret secrets hurt everyone. *cough*Claire and Matt*cough*
#36. How often does Claire find men in Hell”s Kitchen dumpsters? She”s very casual about this other than the possibility of going to jail for negligent murder.
#37. Russians used the classic “kidnap a child to draw out the hero” tactic. Clearly they watched “Johnny Quest.” I hope we get a rubber mask tribute to “Scooby Doo” next!
#38. Did the toxic hair gel give Matt super-hearing and smell in the comics? I am woefully ignorant of Daredevil”s full power set.
#39. Um, you don”t get to “take a pass” with the Irish mob. That”s common knowledge.
#40. YOU DIDN”T LOCK THE DOOR, he”s gonna get back in! Oh, it was so Matt could get out faster.
#41. Nothing like getting right back on the horse, drinking with a near stranger to get over being set up for murder by drinking with a near stranger, eh Karen?
#42. Foggy humanizes the denizens of Josie”s bar. Remember, even townies are people.
#43. Coming from a long line of lapsed Catholics, I appreciate the small digs.
#44. Claire comes clean, she saved him because word on the street is the man in the black mask helps people.
#45. Thanks, child Matt, for explaining why your future self will have a red suit. You wanna maybe throw in a clue as to when said suit might put in an appearance?
#46. Daredevil: Not afraid to show NYC in all it”s sidewalk-scaffolded glory.
#47. No one believes the boy is dead, Russian minion. That”d be a waste of good profit!
#48. Claire is VICIOUS. Do not cross a woman who knows her way around human anatomy.
#49. I CAN”T LOOK I CAN”T LOOK I CAN”T LOOK.
#50. Lifehack: Don”t taunt the man who was just willing to throw you off a high-rise.
#51. This is the most resilient Red Shirt™ I”ve ever seen! Fire extinguisher to the head, knife in the eye, multi-story fall? Nothing kills this dude.
#52. Mr. Murdock is wasting valuable running away time by stripping off his gear and listening to the chants of the crowd.
#53. Can we get ONE superhero who doesn”t find their parent(s) dead on the ground? Just one.
#54. Struggling to think of another action show or movie that takes the time to show how a lengthy fight wears the hero down.
#55. This single take is giving me life! Marvel/Netflix isn”t making television, it”s making really long films.
#56. Matt Murdock will make a hell of a dad. I bet he and that kid are going to get some scotch.
Episode Three – “Rabbit in a Snowstorm”
#57. Unassuming balding man at a bowling alley? Shit”s about to go down.
#58. There”s something special about these guns, there has to be.
#59. I could”ve gone my entire life without seeing a man”s arm break out the back of his elbow.
#60. I feel the bowling ball should shield the assailant”s face from blood spatter, but what do I know?
#61. Priest has come to check in and see how the pre-confession to multiple murders is panning out.
#62. Should be paying attention to this conversation, but all I can focus on is trying to find Stark Tower in the Manhattan skyline. No dice.
#63. “Used to be when you killed a man, you sent his wife flowers. Now you send her with him.” Old mafia guy is getting out because the young whippersnappers aren”t following the rules. Seems legit. Hope he makes it.
#64. Karen drops the bombshell that no, she is not working for free for real. Idiots.
#65. Creepy, confident guy is at the door of Nelson & Murdock. If they told me his name, I”ve forgotten it. So I”m gonna call him Glasses.
#66. We can add casual sexism to the list of Glasses' wonderful qualities.
#67. How did a Cartier watch ad get into the middle of this “Daredevil” episode?
#68. The decline of print journalism and the fight for real stories vs. keeping circulation up is a surprising but solid subplot. Also, making me feel guilty.
#69. Can”t stop looking at every skyline for Stark/Avengers Tower.
#70. That six months salary is hush money. Ask for more, Karen!
#71. You work for lawyers, woman. Take the papers to the lawyers.
#72. Dig at anti-vaxxers out of left field!? It”s a swing and a hit!
#73. Lady juror is not having good times. Even as a human without a built-in heart rate monitor, I can see that.
#74. Seriously? Matt can identify individual wristwatches? What kind of toxic hair gel was that!?
#75. The kind-hearted mafia Red Shirt™ folds like a cheap suit under minimal pain. Clearly not cut out for this line of work.
#76. I”ve been watching too much “Boston Legal.” This closing argument lacks pizazz.
#77. These conversations between important men in expensive suits planning nefarious plots are a little TOO clandestine. I find my mind wandering as they spout exposition in the vaguest manner possible. Stop talking in code or stop talking, period.
#78. “Of all the newspaper offices in all the world, that dame had to walk into mine.” – Mr. Urich, probably
#79. After the long fight sequence of the last episode, these quick cuts in the dark are super jarring.
#80. Wilson Fisk is the Voldemort of Hell”s Kitchen. He who shall not be named.
#81. It was always a polar bear in a snowstorm where I grew up. Who knew that joke was regional?